


live together or die alone, make your choice

by murderstag



Category: Lost, Saw (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Crime, Alternate Universe - Horror, Dark, Follows basically the same plot as the movie, Gore, Multi, Saw AU, This Au fits so good im kinda shocked tbh, This is just lost in a saw setting sorry saw fandom, Torture, Well see, like i have ideas for sequels and shit, some ships r implied... im just a sucker for bocke lol, this ships in this r def not the main focus if ur here for fluff, ya know the usual saw stuff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-15
Updated: 2018-10-28
Packaged: 2019-08-02 12:42:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16305446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/murderstag/pseuds/murderstag
Summary: A con man and a doctor wake up chained in a bathroom and are instructed to play a sick game.





	1. Chapter 1

The first thing that Sawyer noticed when he woke up is that he was underwater. Panic washed over him as he let out a scream and sat up, trying to catch his breath.  

He crawled out of, what he assumed was probably a bathtub, and flopped onto the hard floor. Everything was pitch black and there was something around his left ankle.

“Help! Someone help me!” He screamed, “Is someone there? Oh shit, I’m probably dead.”

Out of nowhere, he heard a rough voice from the other side of the room. “You’re not dead.”

“Who’s that? Turn on the lights!” Sawyer shouted. 

“I would if I could.” 

Sawyer didn't trust this man, he seemed far too calm for whatever was going on.

“What the fuck is going on? Where am I?”

“I don’t know yet.”

“What is that smell?”

“Wait.... h-hold on, I think I found something.” 

Suddenly, bright lights flickered on, which caused Sawyer to close his eyes and hiss.

They were in a bathroom, and both men had chains around their feet. The other person across from Sawyer was a pretty well built man with dark brown hair, his most distinguishing feature was definitely the tattoo on his right arm. 

They weren't the only two men in the bathroom, Sawyer realized, looking down. There was in old, bald, man in the middle floor, lying in a puddle of his own blood. He appeared to have shot himself, as he was holding a gun in his hand. Strangely, in the other hand he was holding a cassette player.

The smell and shock of the situation was really getting to Sawyer, who whipped his head around and vomited. He fell on the floor “Shit! Help! Help!” He screamed again, yanking on his chains, desperate to get out of this situation.

“No one can hear you.”

“What the fuck is this?”

“Calm down, just calm down,” replied the man with the tattoo, “Are you hurt?”

“I don’t know, Yeah!”

The man moves over to the pipe in the corner, leaning against it for support. “What’s your name?”

“My name is very fucking confused, what’s your name? Whats going on here?”

He rolled his eyes, getting more and more aggravated with Sawyers behavior. “My name is Jack Shephard, Im a doctor. I woke up here just like you. Do you recognize this man?” He gestured to the corpse on the floor.

“No.” Sawyer replied.

“Do you have any idea how you got here?”

“No.”

“What’s the last thing you remember?”

“Nothing. I went to bed in my shit-hole apartment, and woke up in an actual shit-hole. What about you?”

“Theres not much to tell really... I was on my way home from work and I don't remember anything else.”

Sawyer just sits there, he knew this man was lying. He was glancing over to the body and then focusing on it much more. The initial panic has worn off for now, replaced simply with fear and shock. His voice is a bit softer.

“First dead body I've ever seen,” Sawyer whispered, “They look different I'm real life. They don’t move.”

“And from the look of these chains, someone didn't want us to get very far, either.”

Sawyer stands back up, suddenly, and lifts his shirt. “Can you see any scars?” 

Jack furrowed his eyebrows, almost amused. “What?”

“This is what they do, man. They kidnap you and drug you and before you know it, you’re in a bathtub and your kidneys are on eBay.”

Jack scoffed, “No one has taken your kidneys.”

“Oh yeah? How can you tell from way over there, Jackie boy?”

“Because you’d either be in terrible agony or you’d be dead by now, trust me.”

“What are you, a surgeon?” Sawyer asked sarcastically.

“Yeah.” Jack replied, matter of factly. “So, are you gonna tell me your name or what?”

“It’s Sawyer.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Sawyer, we need to start thinking about why we’re here. Whoever brought us here could’ve killed us by now, but they didn't. They must want something from us, the question is what...” Jack looks around the room. “The clock.”

Sawyer tilts his head, “What about it?”

“Its brand new.”

“...So?”

Jack sighs. “So, obviously someone wanted us to know the time.”

Sawyer nods, pretending to understand what Jack was trying to say.

“I think I might be able to reach the door.”

Jack moves as close to the giant wooden door as his chains will allow and begins trying to push it open, obviously struggling. 

Sawyer glances down and starts fumbling with his pockets. He pulls out a plastic baggie, which has white envelope inside. He pulls out the envelope, which reads **JAMES**.

Jack continues to struggle with the door and then glances over his shoulder to see what Sawyer is doing. Sawyer opens the envelope and pulls out a tape, with _Play_ _Me_ written on it.

“What is that?”

No response. 

“Excuse me?”

Sawyer glances up at Jack, “It’s a tape. Found it in my pocket, says Play Me.”

Jack thinks for a moment and starts digging through his pockets, as Sawyer did. He too, finds a plastic baggy with an envelope, his reads **JACK**.

He digs into his envelope and finds a tape similar to Sawyer’s, he also finds a single bullet and a small key within the envelope.

He attempts to use the key on his chains, cursing when it doesn't work.

“Throw it over here.” Suggests Sawyer.

Jack seems hesitant at first, but he does. Sawyer grabs the key and leans down to his chains. It doesn't work for him either. Sighing, he drops the key on the floor.

Sawyer squints and looks over the body on the floor, focusing on the tape player in his hand. He stretches out on the floor, trying to reach it. Unfortunately, he doesn't succeed.

“Use your shirt.”

Sawyer seems flustered for a second, “What?”

“Your shirt.”

Sawyer nods and takes off his long sleeved black shirt, leaving him in a white undershirt. He holds it by one end of the sleeve and throws it on the body, trying to nock the tape player onto the floor. It doesn't work.

He throws it again and again and again. Same result.

“Son of a bitch!”

“Keep trying!”

“I am!” He snapped at Jack, losing patience.

“There must be something you can use!”

“Theres nothing here, doc.”

“There must be something...”

Sawyer stands up and looks around his area, then he remembers the bath tub. “Bingo.” He pulls the plug out of the bathtub, which is attached to a long cord. He ties the cord to the other sleeve of his shirt, and kneels down, aiming.

“Oh come on, you can do it!” Jack encouraged.

Sawyer throws his shirt two times and misses. On the third try, he finally gets the plug through the tape recorder. Jack and Sawyer look at each other and smile.

“Yes!”

Sawyer slowly dragged the tape recorder to himself and pressed the play button.

A deep raspy voice filled the room.

“Rise and shine, James, or as you call yourself, Sawyer. You’re probably wondering where you are, I’ll tell you where you might be; you might be in the room that you die in. Now, I see you as a strange mix of someone angry, yet apathetic. But mostly just pathetic. Are you going to watch yourself die today, _Sawyer_? Or are you going to do something about it?”

Both men looked very unnerved. “Throw me the player.” Jack said.

Sawyer shakes his head, “You throw me your tape.”

Jack lets out a heavy sigh, “Look... We’re going to have to work together if you want to get out of here. Just throw it to me.”

“Im not gonna risk breaking it, jackass! Just throw me your tape!”

Jack scoffs and shakes his head before throwing the tape to Sawyer. Sawyer switches his tape with Jack’s and presses play, hearing the same voice that was on his tape.

“Dr. Shephard, this is your wake up call. Every day of your working life, you have given people the news that they are going to die soon. Now you will be the cause of death. Your aim in this game is to kill James. You have until six on the clock to do it. There’s a man in the room with you. When there’s that much poison in your blood, the only thing left to do is shoot yourself.” The voice on the tape coughs. “There are ways to win this hidden all around you. Just remember: X marks the spot for the treasure. If you do not kill James by 6:00, then Kate and Aaron will die, Dr. Shephard. And I’ll leave you in this room to _rot_. Let the game begin.”

The two men made eye contact, tension filling the room. “Give me that, now.” Jack demands. Sawyer slides the tape to Jack who rewinds it.

“Then Kate and Aaron will die, Dr Shephard. And I’ll leave you in this room to _rot_. Let the game begin.”

“What do you think?” Asks Sawyer. “Probably a sick joke, right?”

“Shut up, shut up. Listen.” Says Jack.

On the tape after a brief moment of silence, they hear a voice in a very hushed tone “Follow your heart.”

The tape stops. 

“What the hell does follow your heart mean?” Sawyer asks.

Jack looks around the room and sees a brown heart written on the toilet, he points and shouts. “There! Right next to you, on the toilet.” 

Sawyer groans while looking down into the bowl of liquid shit, obviously hesitant. 

“Hurry up.” Says Jack.

Sawyer sighs and dips his left hand into the bowl, searching around. Nothing. He pulls his hand out and tries to shake the shit off.

“Anything?”

“No solids.”

“Take off the lid.” Jack says, pointing to the top of the toilet.

Sawyer takes off the lid and sets it on the toilet seat. He reaches in and pulls out a black garbage bag. 

“I really wish I would've checked in there first.”


	3. Chapter 3

Sawyer rips open the bag that he found in the toilet, and pulls out two hacksaws. He tosses one to Jack who starts to try sawing his chains. 

Sawyer quickly tosses the garbage bag into the bathtub and starts trying to saw away his chains. Neither of them are making any progress.

Suddenly, Sawyer’s saw snaps in half and he loses his temper.

“Fuck! Fuck!” He hits the saw on the ground and tosses it at the wall, causing a piece of the mirror to break off and fly onto the floor.

Jack saws at his chains faster, while Sawyer falls to the ground, holding back sobs. Jack gives up and slides his back against the wall. His eyes widen. “He doesn't want us to cut through our chains...” Jack says, coming to a realization. “He wants us to cut through our feet. I think I may know who did this to us.”

“What did you just say?” Sawyer asks, standing up.

“Its not someone I know personally... Just somebody I know of.”

“Jesus christ! Tell me, who is it?!”

“The last I heard the police still hadn't caught him. And the only reason I know that, is because I was a suspect... I’ll start from the beginning.”  

* * *

Three figures open a trap door and go down a flight of stairs. They are Sayid Jarrah, Miles Straume and Ana-Lucia Cortez, the detectives working on the Jigsaw case.

Sayid is a well-built 40 year old Iraqi man, he probably has the most experience out of the three of them. Miles is a short 30 year old Chinese man, he had multiple piercings; looking like he walked straight out of a Hot Topic. Ana Lucia; a 29 year old Latina woman, who was arguably the toughest of the group. 

The trio walks into a small, cell like room with a low ceiling, the crime scene causes Sayid and Miles to be deeply disturbed; A dead body covered in deep slashes, found in some sort of barbed wire maze.

“This ones not fresh anymore,” Ana-Lucia starts, “Victim’s a 26-year old male. Died of massive blood loss. Mostly through the femoral artery. He started at the back of the cage and tunneled his way through the razor wire so fast it’s amazing he got as far as he did. Cut himself so deep, we found traces of stomach acid on the floor. We also found this.” She holds up an evidence baggie with a micro cassette tape recorder and presses play while Sayid and Miles listen.

“Hello Boone. You are a perfectly healthy, sane, upper-class male. Yet last month, you ran a straight razor across your wrists. Did you cut yourself because you truly wanted to die, or did you just want some attention? Tonight, you’ll show me. The irony is that if you want to die, you just have to stay where you are. But if you want to live, you’ll have to cut yourself again. Find the path through the razor wire to the door. But hurry. At 3:00 that door will lock and then this room becomes your tomb. How much blood will you shed to stay alive, Boone?”

Ana-Lucia stopped the tape and said, “The door was on a timer. It was unlocked until 3:00. Then it slammed shut. He was given two hours.”

Sayid notices something strange on the body and shines his flashlight on it. Miles squints and leans down to examine the body with Sayid, they see a piece of flesh carved out in the shape of of a jigsaw piece. “A jigsaw piece,” Sayid Sighs, “I think we’re gonna be here for a while, Miles.”

* * *

It was uncomfortably quiet in the bathroom until Jack spoke again. 

“The newspapers started calling him the Jigsaw Killer. Actually, technically speaking, he’s not really a murderer. He never killed anyone. He finds ways for his victims to kill themselves.”

That was absolutely absurd to Sawyer. If you push someone off a cliff and the fall kills them, that doesn't make the ground a murderer.  

* * *

Miles kneels over a charred corpse, at a different crime scene. Miles is holding a tape player, and yet again, the voice of the infamous Jigsaw Killer fills the room.

“Hello Neil. If you’re so sick, then why do I have so many photos of you up and about? Let’s put your so-called illness to the test. Right now, there is a slow-acting poison in your veins. The antidote is in the safe. The combination to the safe is written on the wall. Hurry up and program it in. But watch your step. And by the way, that’s a flammable substance smeared on your body, so I would be careful with that candle, if I were you...or all the people you’ve burned with your act just might have their revenge.”

“I found something else. Well, two things, actually.” Ana-Lucia moves past Sayid and Miles to the wall, where a small hole is cut. “There was someone standing outside here watching through this peephole. Looks like our friend Jigsaw likes to book himself front row seats to his own sick little games. He was there at the last one as well. Only this time, he left us his penlight.” She holds up the penlight in an evidence baggie, clicking it twice then handing it to Sayid.

“Get a rush on the prints.”

“Copy that.”


	4. Chapter 4

It was just five months ago, when Jack was in the hospital room, wearing his white doctors coat and going over the patient charts with three med school students. He points at the x-ray display with his pen and starts talking, “Okay. This patient has an inoperable frontal lobe tumor extending across the midline. Started as colon cancer.” He pauses for a second and turns to the med students, and a pretty blonde girl named Juliet smiles at him, obviously infatuated. “The patient has come in for a standard checkup by which we are able to monitor the rate at which his condition is declining.” 

Just then an orderly pushes a cart of supplies by the doorway, and pauses to listen to Dr. Shephard. The orderly was a forty five year old man, with short messy brown hair and large piercing blue eyes that show a kindness that the others in the room seem to be lacking. Kindness, and something else below the surface. He glances down at the patient sleeping, then up at Jack.

“The patient had-“

The man cut Jack off, “His name is John, Dr. Shephard.” He looks down at the patient named John, he was in about his fifties or sixties, completely bald expect for the stubble's on his chin and had a scar on his left eye. His head was to the side of the table and he was asleep. The orderly looked at him and spoke of him with a tone of admiration, and maybe something a bit more. “He’s a very special person.”

Jack’s face flushes with embarrassment and just a pinch of anger, and he flashes the orderly a condescending smile and nods. “Thank you for that information, Ben.” He turns to the students, who all look a bit uncomfortable. “As you can see, our orderlies form very special bonds with the patients...” Ben gives Jack a brief look of pure loathing before going stoic again and walking away. Jack chuckles, “Anyways, the patient-“ 

He gets cut off again, this time by a voice on the intercom. “Dr. Shephard, Dr. Jack Shephard, please page the operator.”

He smirks and says, “Obviously someone doesn’t want me to tell you what the patient has. Excuse me.” He walks out of the room, as the three students watch him with great admiration.

* * *

When Jack gets to his office, he is greeted by two detectives. He gulps and hangs his coat on the rack next to the door. 

“Dr. Shephard, I’m Detective Jarrah, this is Detective Straume, City Homicide.” He gestures to the degrees on the wall, “Very impressive.”

Jack smiles, pretending to care about what they think and walks over to the chair behind his desk. “Oh. Thank you, I do my best.” He sits down and stares at the two detectives sitting across from him.

“Sorry to interrupt you while you’re working.” Sayid says.

“That’s fine. Now, how can I help you gentlemen?”

“Are you able to tell us where you were between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. last night, Doctor?” Sayid’s tone seems a bit more serious. 

“Why is it that you’re interested?”

“We’d like to ask you a few questions about it. For your sake, I think it’s best if we do it down at the station. Would you like to follow us there?”

Jack shakes his head. “No, I’m afraid that’s...that’s quite out of the question. I can’t just leave, I have work to do. Plus, my wife has the car today, so...” 

Miles jumps in the conversation, raising his eyebrows. “Oh, that’s okay, you can ride with us. _Doc_.”

Jack chuckles uncomfortably. “I’m sorry, you’ll have to tell me again. What is this all about?”

Sayid pulls a penlight out of his pocket and sets it on the table. “Is this yours, doctor?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is so short... just wanted to intruduce Ben & Juliet and let Jack meet Sayid & Miles, the next chapter will be better!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh fuck yeah, reverse bear trap time!

Jack paces back and forth nervously in an interrogation room. His lawyer is sitting at the table, across from him, taking notes.

“So you have no idea how your penlight showed up at the murder scene?” The lawyer asked.

“Of course not!” Jack shouted and threw his hands up in the air.

“I have to ask. What were you doing last night?”

He hesitated. “I was seeing someone.”

The room went silent for a few seconds, though it felt like forever.

“Who?”

Jack doesn't answer, just continues pacing.

The lawyer gets frustrated and drops his pen. “Look, if you can’t be honest with me-“

Jack blurts out, almost defensively. “I was visiting someone, It wasn’t a patient! Alright?” He sighs and shakes his head, “What am I gonna do?”

“Well, as your lawyer and your friend, my advice to you is to bite the bullet and give them your alibi now. Because no one is going to believe you later.”

* * *

A few hours later Jack is sitting alone at the table. Miles comes through the door, shuts it behind him. “Okay. We checked your alibi. It holds up.” He almost sounds disappointed. Despite the evidence, Miles still does not trust him.

“Good! Can I go home now?” Jack says, eager to leave.

“We have one of the victims who managed to escape.” In the other room a young man with dirty blonde hair being lead into the room next to them, he’s wearing a visitors pass. He sits down at a table next to Sayid. Jack and Miles were watching him through a two way mirror, they can see him clearly, but he can’t see them. “Want to know if you wouldn’t mind sticking around and listening to his testimony? Maybe it’ll trigger something.”

Jack pretends to care “I’d like to help, really, but...”

“Well, we’d really appreciate it. He’s the only one who made it.”

Finally Jack sighs and nods. “Okay.”

The young man in the room has strange scar markings on the sides of his mouth. He’s visibly shaken, eyes looking down at the floor.

Sayid starts to talk to him in a slow, gentle voice. “Charlie...in your own time, tell me the first thing you remember.”

Unknown to everyone to everyone else in the room, he was still living his nightmare through a flashback. “I woke up. All I could taste was blood, and metal.”

* * *

Charlie was passed out in a chair, wearing a strange iron contraption around his head a bear-trap like device covering his mouth. He slowly opens his eyes, surrounded with black eyeliner.

He tries to sit up, but his wrists are bound to the arms of the chair. He moans loudly, trying to speak or cry but he cannot.

An old television set next to him suddenly turns on, and it startles him. After a brief moment of static, the frightening image of a demented clown-like doll its face white with red spirals on its cheeks, its red eyes leering at Charlie from the screen. He stares at it, and moans softly in fear and confusion.

The doll speaks, the jaw moving; it is the voice of Jigsaw. “Hello Charlie. You don’t know me, but I know you. I want to play a game. Here’s what happens if you lose. The device you’re wearing is hooked into your upper and lower jaws. When the timer at the back goes off, your mouth will be permanently ripped open. Think of it like a reverse bear trap. There is only one key to open the device. It’s in the stomach of your dead brother. Look around, Charlie. Know that I’m not lying. You better hurry up. Live or die. Make your choice.” The video goes to white and gray static, then switches off.

Charlie begins to struggle like a madman against his bonds and the chair. He manages to pull one arm free, then the other and stands up quickly. That’s when the cord in the back of the device is pulled out, and the timer starts. He freezes, his eyes widening, as it begins its sixty second countdown. He reaches behind his head, pulling at the lock and the timer, trying to pull it off, but it is stuck there.

He starts freaking out, pulling at it as much as he can. Over his shoulder, he see’s the body of a man lying on the floor on his back. He cautiously approaches it, the timer still ticking away, his hands still at the device. He kneels down cautiously next to him. It’s the body of his dead brother. Sobbing, He reaches down and with a shaking hand lifts up his shirt, revealing a large, black question mark drawn on his abdomen. He sobs harder, hunched over him. Charlie, still leaning over, picks up a small knife next to the body. He slowly brings it up in both of her shaking hands, clutching it.

He looks closer at his brother when, he opens his eyes and starts to wake up. He moans, unable to speak or move. His eyes slowly, groggily look around a bit. He cannot even open his mouth; someone has very heavily drugged him. He sees Charlie over him with a knife and his eyes widen; he tries to moan at him to stop, to not do what he’s about to do, but he turns the knife upside down in both hands and quickly stabs down. He moans in agony as he stabs down again, and again, and again. Blood splashes on his hands.

* * *

In Jack’s interrogation room, Miles throws down an evidence baggie with a used syringe in it. “Liam Pace had been injected with an opiate overdose. He couldn’t move or feel much of anything.”

Jacks eyes widen, “You mean....he was alive?”

Miles stares at him and nods slightly.  
”Was.“

They stared back at Charlie, his head was still hung, and he was sniffling.  
Sayid stares at the young man with a sympathetic look and asks, “What happened after you took it off?”  
Charlie takes a deep breath before continuing.

* * *

His bloody hands were franticly sifting through intestines for a key. He holds up a liver and pulls a small key from inside it. He reaches around the back of his head, quickly trying to unlock the padlock. The timer ticks away, faster and faster. He gets it, pulls off the padlock and opens the device in the back, ripping it away from his head and throwing it down as it snaps open.

He lets out the most terrible, agonized, heart-wrenching scream, sobbing loudly, his hands held out in front of him, rocking back and forth. Suddenly from another corner of the room, a light comes on, revealing the puppet from the video in the corner. Charlie sees it, staring at it wide eyed, his sobs softening for a moment as he stares at it. Slowly, it wheels towards him on a tricycle. He can only stare and cry, not sure what to do or expect. It stops, leering at him, then speaks.

“Congratulations. You are still alive. Most people are so ungrateful to be alive. But not you. Not anymore.”

* * *

Back in the interrogation room, Charlie’s head was still shaking a bit, almost like a series of slight spasms. He continues to sniffle, his eyes far off.

“You are, in fact, a drug addict. Isn’t that right, Charles?” Sayid asks.

He nods, but doesn't looks up.

“Do you think that is why he picked you?”

Charlie nods again, letting out a brief sob.

“Are you grateful, Charles?”

He finally raises his head, looking into his eyes for the first time.

“He...helped me.”


End file.
